When my players first tried out Mayhem, several saw Cunning as a negative attribute. One tanked it because he wanted to play a good angelic character who had no guile. This is one reason why I in my wiki for the campaign: I felt strongly that I needed to correct player impressions about what their stats meant, and how they would be used. The limited and narrow use for cunning gave the very natural impression that it was only for sneaky, gossipy, thieving murderers.
But the Yazata was different: it offered a divine path that vindicated cunning, turning cleverness into a valuable attribute that the player would want to put to good use. It basically told the player there were divine beings out there serving good causes as expected, who also believed in using cunning, stealth, and their social prowess in gossip to investigate, pursue and eliminate evil and sinister threats. He was the quiet word of power, the shadow eye and hand of the side of good who didn't just charge headlong into battle, but employed very different means to the same end. Plus he healed, deafened, and stunned foes with naught but the power of his words. The Yazata was pure awesome.
The divine healer is a valuable addition, and I assume the Yazata was removed to make room for it. Perhaps the Yazata's abilities were mechanically broken and needed fixing. But whatever the case, I loved the theme of the Yazata and the effect he had on the player and the whole party. Please bring him back!
/soapbox
